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The final countdown has begun: Sentinel-1A is just hours away from its Arianespace Soyuz launch

Arianespace has commenced the final countdown for today’s medium-lift Soyuz mission from French Guiana, which is to loft Sentinel-1A – an Earth observation satellite that will deliver essential data for Europe’s Copernicus program from a Sun-synchronous orbit.

Today’s Arianespace flight – designated VS07 in the company’s launcher family numbering system – is set for liftoff at precisely 6:02:26 p.m. local time in French Guiana, with Sentinel-1A to be deployed during a flight lasting 23 minutes.

Payload performance for the flight is more than 2,270 kg., including an estimated 2,157 kg. for Sentinel-1A – which was developed by an industrial consortium led by prime contractor Thales Alenia Space. For its Earth observation mission, the satellite is outfitted with a C-SAR synthetic aperture radar payload produced by Airbus Defence and Space.

Copernicus is a program of the European Commission in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), and is designed to give Europe complete independence in the acquisition and management of data for Earth environmental, civil safety and humanitarian purposes.